Breeding age???

[shotgun harry]

I have a 7 month old springer bitch, she has just got her first season today obviously she is to young at the moment but if I where to have a litter from her in the future what would be the right age?

[v-max]

Theres no right age but i prefere to wait till 2.3/4 3.1/2 as i like to work the bitch a couple years to learn her & her pros & cons & fill the head with brains first JMHO. Try find the best stud you can even a FTCH as there not that expensive & tested to a hight standard so you know the dogs performance. Do the tests required for the breed as we owe it to the breed i hate people that through them to gether for money or to slow there bitch down only breed if shes worth it.

[Cranfield]

Everybody probably has their own opinion, but i would say let her have 4 seasons and then a litter before she is 3 years old.

If you are not going to breed from her, then get her spayed, it will save health problems later.

[darebear]

the bitch has to be fully mature, and that depends on breed.

 

 

i'd usually suggest 2 years as a minimum, but i wouldn't leave it too late for a first litter either.

 

 

however, i don't agree with spaying bitches if you have no plans to breed from her.

[Cranfield]

My advice to have a non breeding bitch spayed, comes from the experience of almost losing a five year old Springer bitch to pyometra.

Its unusual for a "complete" bitch of that age to be affected, but following her sudden collapse, it needed an emergency operation to save her.

I have also heard of mammary cancer occurring in "complete" bitches of eight years and over.

 

Speying eliminates completely the risks of pyometra and our Vet advised it reduces the chance of mammary cancer by 90%.

 

 

 

EDIT NOTE: I ain't trying to start an argument with darebear. There is no way I want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.

[al4x]

yep as Cranfield says my dads a vet and one of the more usual out of hours emergency ops was to try and save bitches with pyometra. usually they're fairly old when they get it but the risk is vastly increased if they haven't had a litter. So as Cranfield says seriously think about spaying even if you wait till they are 4 or 5 first.

Age of a frst litter depends a lot on the kind of dog, I've had year old Jack Russels that its been a very good age to breed from and I've stopped breeding from them by 5. Working dogs of bigger breeds are best leaving till at least 18 months or more depending how much you want to work them first

[darebear]

My advice to have a non breeding bitch spayed, comes from the experience of almost losing a five year old Springer bitch to pyometra.

Its unusual for a "complete" bitch of that age to be affected, but following her sudden collapse, it needed an emergency operation to save her.

I have also heard of mammary cancer occurring in "complete" bitches of eight years and over.

 

Speying eliminates completely the risks of pyometra and our Vet advised it reduces the chance of mammary cancer by 90%.

 

 

 

EDIT NOTE: I ain't trying to start an argument with darebear. There is no way I want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.

 

 

 

ha ha, i'm giggling at the edit note.

 

goodness me, am i that scary? ~does her best to impersonate sweetness and innocence~

 

 

got to admit, we had darcy spayed because of a pyo, and we had bj spayed because she had a grumbling pyo (kept coming into season every month).

 

and my opinion is simply personal, but there are a number of other difficulties spayed bitches can also endure in older age - incontinence of the bladder being one.

i just meant, despite the experience with pyo's (and by god, you have to be quick to catch one successfully), i personally wouldn't get a bitch spayed just because i had no intentions of breeding.

 

each to their own.